“As a company, we like the Wii U”: Ubisoft pledges support to ‘second-screen’ play

Ubisoft may have said recently that it won’t release new Wii U exclusives unless Nintendo manages to sell more consoles, but publisher exec Tony Key has stated that the company does like the format, and the notion of second-screen play in general.

Speaking with IGN, Key said, “As a company, we like the Wii U. We really believe that the second screen can add a new dimension to gaming. We’re still big supporters of that system.

“We have just as many games coming out on Wii U this year as we did at launch. So we like the second screen. We think there are opportunities with all these games to extend them – to another person, to another location. We’re taking it very seriously.”

Key’s comments come as Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently said that he’d like to see Nintendo sell more Wii U consoles before releasing more exclusives on the format.

On Ubisoft’s appreciation of second-screen technology, Key continued, “It’s not necessarily next-generation, but it’s next-generation thinking. We want to extend the experience to whatever screen is handy. We have been looking for ways to take advantage of these second screens. Those companion apps are our first attempt at doing that.

“It’s one of the things we learned over the last couple of years, how powerful mobile can be. It’s the same for the social space. We’ve experimented with social games, MMOs, mobile games. All the things that we’ve learned about monetization, about the sharing aspects, all those things that we learned from those other spaces, we’re seeing all of that now show up in these big AAA productions. For us, we believe that’s the future of social gaming. It’s not necessarily a genre that you become a part of.”

We ae seeing more games encompassing online and tablet functions thanks to SmartGlass and games like Destiny and Titanfall that exist in persistent online worlds.

What’s your take on second-screen play? Are you a fan or could you live without it? Let us know below.